This past weekend, many in my part of the country got their first look at the Cardinals' offense. With the exception of some early miscues, the Arizona attack was extremely efficient, knocking off the Cowboys in their own backyard. Finally, people were talking about the Cardinals being "for real." Truth is, football people have know Bruce Arians was "for real" as an offensive coach for a very long time.

My first observance of his work was in 2001. He had just been hired as the OC of the Cleveland Browns, and I was very interested to see his version of the Colts offense there (he had been Peyton Manning's QB coach prior to the Cleveland gig). Many of the same ideas were in place, including the well documented "Shallow" and "Levels" packages. Some things I have always found interesting, however, are some less heralded aspects of his offense.

In studying the Steelers' game plan vs the Packers from Super Bowl XLV, these things become even more apparent:

Option Routes. Arians has always used a tough, dependable option route runner to move the chains. His use of adjustable routes separates on a regular basis is a real differentiation of his attack.

Empty Formations. The Cardinals' use of no back sets is at a much higher percentage than the NFL norm. Of course, the versatility of Andre Ellington allows for this, as he is able to align anywhere on the field. Even against a defense like the 2010 Packers, who were renowned for their zone pressure schemes, Arians had a healthy amount of no-back passes in the game plan.

Stacked and Bunch formations. Much of what I admire about this offense, like the Patriots, is that they always do everything they can to get receivers a free release. Moreover, they do a nice job of combining ideas, such as stacking receivers in EMPTY sets:

Within the plan, there are also packaged plays, shot plays, and the method for dealing with Zone Blitz. All of these should be part of an offensive coach's arsenal.

While I'm not certain how read concepts are grouped in the Cardinals' playbook, I do know that all the combinations I have seen have simple solutions using ACTS, the reading system described ﻿here﻿. Further, this system of reading is producing great results on the high school level; new ideas are being deployed, and Part 2 of Developing an Offensive System will be completed soon.